Why Do Some Countries Drive on a Different Side of the Road?
We all dream of taking that Australian outback road trip. But who isn’t more than a little afraid of driving on the other side of the road. Around two-thirds of the globe drives on the right side of the road. So how did those other countries wind up going the other way? Well, it turns out that driving on the left came first!
It All Started With the Romans (and the Middle Ages)
Image courtesy of ThingLink.com
We all know how annoying it is to mount a horse with a sword in your sheath. And isn’t it easier to impale your enemies if they are approaching from the side of your dominant hand? These are a few of the hypotheses by historians who try to figure out why Romans initially road on the left side of the road. Because the majority of humans (around 85-90%) are right-handed, anthropologists reason that societies from the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages generally chose to hold their reigns in the left hand, thereby freeing up the dominant hand for weapons. One fun fact: this is reflected in staircases from the Middle Ages as well! They spiral in the clockwise direction going upward to allow defenders at the top to attack while preventing right-handed attackers from drawing their swords as they ascended.
Emerging European Powers (And Napoleon) Pick Sides
A map where red countries drive on the right and blue countries drive on the left. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
After the Middle Ages, European countries like France and England started to make their own choice about which side of the road to prefer. England was the first nation to pass an official rule, in 1773, which made driving on the left the law. France, on the other hand, chose to drive on the right. The French journey toward this decision might surprise you, however!
When horses and carriages were first cruising through France, peasants and the poor ducked to the right side of the road while the aristocrats plowed through on the left. This two-side-of-the-road world order continued until, well, you guessed it, the French Revolutionary War. All of a sudden, being rich and ostentatious was asking for trouble, so the aristocrats did their best to blend in with the poor on the right side of the road.
So how does Napoleon fit into all of this? Well first off, Napoleon was left-handed. He used this to his advantage by attacking from the right side of the road in a European world will it was principal to stick to the left. He made this quirk into everlasting history when he made a rule that everywhere he conquered must drive on the right. One of the few countries in mainland Europe to avoid this fate was Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). They continued to drive on the left until they were annexed by Germany in WWII, at which point they were forced to drive on the right like the rest of Europe.
American Automobiles Choose a Side of the Road Once and For All
Model T. Courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica.
Remember how the Romans chose to ride on the left to draw their swords more conveniently? Well, in the US, many folks in the 1800s were controlling teams of horses instead of riding just one. This meant that instead of favoring the dominant hand for weapons, they used that hand to steer. Drivers also wanted to sit near the center of the road so they could avoid collisions with oncoming traffic. This horse-centric way of driving differed from the English tradition but paved the ‘driving on the right’ layout of Henry Ford’s Model T.
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Colonization from Britain or France explains most of the global distribution for driving on a certain side of the road. However, the world’s desire to have the American automobile started to change things starting in the 1900s. Car exports have encouraged some countries to switch to driving on the right. A few examples include Canada in the 1920s, Sweden in 1967, and Nigeria in 1972. Sweden was the last country in continental Europe to switch! They made a big deal about changing over the roads, buses, and signs on the day before the move!
Despite the near-consensus to drive on the right, there are a few holdouts. For example, Samoa switched from right to left to match Australia and New Zealand in 2009. And Japan drives on the left despite never being a British colony. The British did help Japan build its first railway system, however, which probably explains the connection. For a few years during WWII, the US mandated that the Okinawa Prefecture drive on the right, but Japan returned to driving on the left in 1978.
Get in the Car and Drive
If you aren’t ready to drive on the other side of the road, why not tackle a road trip in the U.S. first? Just make sure to bring the right gear along if it is going to be in the Colorado snow! And before you go, why not check out a few of the Mercedes-Benz 2020 models. Come to Mercedes-Benz of Littleton for the experience you deserve. t the very least, make sure that your luxury vehicle is up to date with luxury service deals!
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